194
9 Mount Wilson
Fig. 9.17 The persons in the center in Fig. 9.16. From left to right in the front row:
Walter Adams, Edward Pickering, George Hale, Mrs. Kapteyn and Williamina Fleming.
Kapteyn is behind her. From the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
Collection at the Huntington Library [87]
Flagstaff and the nearby Grand Canyon along the way. In Pasadena they saw
the primary mirror for the 100 in. telescope under construction, which was
being ground into the right shape. In the afternoon there had been a garden
party, at the home of George Hale and his wife. The Kapteyns had been invited
there as well, but Kapteyn had written Hale in Pasadena by letter from Mount
Wilson that this was too time-consuming a trip and had apologized himself
and his wife. He wrote that otherwise he would have to give up the idea of
being able to finish ‘to some extent’ his work.
The trip up the mountain on Tuesday was done in two groups. Most of the
guests took the Mount Wilson Toll Road with six-seater coaches. A smaller
part took an older path, the start of which was reached with a trolley (a kind of
electric tram). Then they traveled by horse and some even on foot. The whole
journey took about eight hours, because both the walkers as well as the horses
had to rest regularly. On top of Mount Wilson was a hotel, which had been
opened for tourists in 1905, where the rich could escape the hot summer temperatures of Los Angeles and its surroundings on weekends. However, about
9 Mount Wilson
Fig. 9.17 The persons in the center in Fig. 9.16. From left to right in the front row:
Walter Adams, Edward Pickering, George Hale, Mrs. Kapteyn and Williamina Fleming.
Kapteyn is behind her. From the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
Collection at the Huntington Library [87]
Flagstaff and the nearby Grand Canyon along the way. In Pasadena they saw
the primary mirror for the 100 in. telescope under construction, which was
being ground into the right shape. In the afternoon there had been a garden
party, at the home of George Hale and his wife. The Kapteyns had been invited
there as well, but Kapteyn had written Hale in Pasadena by letter from Mount
Wilson that this was too time-consuming a trip and had apologized himself
and his wife. He wrote that otherwise he would have to give up the idea of
being able to finish ‘to some extent’ his work.
The trip up the mountain on Tuesday was done in two groups. Most of the
guests took the Mount Wilson Toll Road with six-seater coaches. A smaller
part took an older path, the start of which was reached with a trolley (a kind of
electric tram). Then they traveled by horse and some even on foot. The whole
journey took about eight hours, because both the walkers as well as the horses
had to rest regularly. On top of Mount Wilson was a hotel, which had been
opened for tourists in 1905, where the rich could escape the hot summer temperatures of Los Angeles and its surroundings on weekends. However, about